Author: Aswath Damodaran

Publisher: Wharton School Publishing/Pearson Education, Inc. (Upper Saddle, NJ)

ISBN-10: 0-13-199048-9

ISBN-13: 978-0-13-199048-7

Strategic Risk Taking has a suggested retail price of $49.99 (U.S.).  This 388 page, hardbound book includes an Introduction, twelve chapters (organized into three sections), and an Index.  Some chapters are followed by Appendix supplements.The first section is comprised of the first four chapters; the second section is comprised of the second four chapters; and the third section is comprised of the last four chapters.  The book is very nicely structured.

The writing style and content is academic, complete with formulas or equations and figures or graphs.  Quite a bit of material is covered, and the level at which the content is covered is comparable to that one might encounter at the intermediate level in undergraduate economics courses or at the MBA level.  A strong math background or pattern analysis skills will be helpful to the reader in digesting this material, which is presented in as palatable a form as is likely possible, given the subject matter.

This book is not an “afternoon read” for anyone likely to benefit from it.  It is parsimonious, covering a broad range of technical topics, and anyone with less than a four-year degree, complete with a strong math or quantitative background, is likely to spend time “studying” the book, perhaps with frequent Google searches to gain greater depth and/or alternative operational definitions for the technical terminology contained within.  For example, someone with a master’s degree in economics or finance (or comparable levels of education) would find this book of great interest and be able to digest its content, having already been exposed to much of the material, but in a series of university-level courses, over an extended period, with time to “mature” in the discipline.

 If you want to learn more about risk and train your mind to think in terms of risk, this is the book for you.  It is rich with content, but be advised that the material is not presented in a style likely to be easily digested by, for example, someone with a non-technical undergraduate education.  The book is very nicely structured in an almost textbook fashion, suggesting that those likely to benefit most will be those who are self-disciplined and interested in acquiring a significant level of expertise on the topic of risk, efficiently, without fluff or filler.  I would characterize this book as a target for (1) study and (2) reference.

The above review was contributed by:   Anthony (A.J.) Cataldo II Ph.D    Professor of Accounting, West Chester University. Dr. Cataldo holds a PhD from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University , MAc ( University of Arizona)  unofficial minor in Marketing , BSBA  (University of Arizona). He is a Certified Management Accountant and a Certified Public Accountant:  Click Here to view Anthony's Reviews